


A Winter's Meeting

by ancarett



Category: Possession - A. S. Byatt
Genre: Academia, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 15:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13010574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancarett/pseuds/ancarett
Summary: They come together and cling to each other, before they part anew.





	A Winter's Meeting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theonlytwin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonlytwin/gifts).



"I take it back," Maud muttered under her breath after Roland slipped beside her into the close confines of the airport limousine backseat. The automobile smoothly pulled away from the wind-swept and frigid tundra that passed for Toronto's airport, expertly steered by a young Sikh.

"You take what back?" Roland asked, once he had finished buckling his seat belt and could spare her more than a glance.

"I take back my permission for you to _ever_ consider taking a position here, Roland. The weather is brutal! How cold is it?" 

Maud's plaintive question reached the driver's ear and he caught their eyes briefly in the rearview mirror. "I believe it is -17 today, madam and sir. True Canadian weather!"

Roland and Maud shared a look of mutual horror which their driver noticed and chuckled at before turning his attention back to the highway on-ramp and the rush of traffic. It was mid-afternoon and the sun shone relentlessly in the cloudless sky, yet Maud felt so deeply chilled she wouldn't be surprised if her bones had turned to ice.

Roland reached over to take her hands, desperately wrapped in the elegant green fabric of her winter coat. He brought their bodies as close as the webbed belts would permit, and lifted her chilled fingers close to his lips. He blew a warm breath upon them and began to gently chafe warmth back into her frozen flesh.

"Thank you, Roland," Maud murmured, letting her head fall back against the leather upholstery. She could feel warm air pump past her feet. The brief minutes in the queue at the airport after their transatlantic flight had horrified Maud with the relentlessly cold that quickly invaded every weakness in her British-weight winter wear. Toronto was not for the faint of heart, she thought.

"How long will it take to acclimate, do you think?" Roland spared a glance at the relentless flow of traffic that their driver smoothly navigated. He released Maud's fingers as her hands finally felt warm in his own. She smiled her gratitude and took a moment to survey the banks of the roadway thoroughly covered in snow and ice.

"Longer than we have," Maud averred. "The meetings start tomorrow and we're departing late on New Year's. We could stay through Hogmannay and I'd be none the more accustomed. Likely less."

She leaned a bit forward in the seat and caught the driver's attention. "How long does it take to get used to the cold?"

"I was born and raised here, so this is normal for me, but my mother has lived here thirty years and, well, she says that when you come from the warmth, you never get used to the cold. Sometimes it gets down to thirty below and those days are tough. I have quite the time starting the car, it's so cold."

Maud shivered at the thought. "Oh my. Thank you for that."

The driver seemed to sense her shock and dismay. "It's not often that cold, though. Truly, it's a beautiful city. You should enjoy your visit here. Is it business or pleasure?"

"Business mostly, I'm afraid," Roland said, entering the conversation. "We're here for the Modern Language Association meetings."

Their driver's eyes sparkled as he negotiated a shift from one highway ramp to another, turning eastward towards the still-distant city centre. "I thought so when you said that you are going to the Royal York. I have driven several Americans there today. One came from Florida and had no winter coat at all!"

Maud felt a frisson of sympathy for the poor soul they'd likely see at the meetings mixed with a bit of envy. Florida - now that sounded like a lovely place for a December conference. A sensible choice.

Beside her, Roland leaned forward to point towards a cluster of high-rise buildings. "Are we coming close to downtown?"

"No," their driver said. "It's still several miles ahead - can you see the CN Tower?" A slim building topped with a curved extrusion loomed ahead in the distance.

"Your hotel isn't too far from the tower if you want to play tourist while you're in town."

Roland cocked his head to the side, considering. "That would be lovely if the weather warms up a bit more. Right now I don't think I'd relish walking around the city. In any case, our meetings start tomorrow."

"Always an excuse for a return visit." The limousine smoothly negotiated the ceaseless traffic flowing a stone's throw from a chilly lakefront, sparkling austerely in the winter cold.

Finally feeling somewhat thawed with a palpable flow of heat circulating in the car, Maud couldn't resist adding, "In the summertime, I think."

Roland laughed as he leaned back in the seat and wrapped a warm arm around her shoulders. Maud let herself relax into his comfortable embrace. It was good to be reunited with Roland on this trip and she vowed to enjoy every minute of their time together before she was home in Lincoln and he in Amsterdam.

***

"Darlings! You made it. I wasn't sure I'd see you." Leonora's distinctive tones trumpeted across the grand hotel lobby and settled in their ears. 

Maud prided herself that she didn't wince or drop her smile at the onslaught. She admired and appreciated Leonora Stern, feminist scholar and LaMotte specialist. She just didn't always appreciate Leonora's enthusiasms and insistances. It appeared that these were coming into play as the larger woman swept across the busy space with a few other academics following along behind her.

"Leonora," Maud smiled as she released her suitcase handle and accepted the other woman's swift embrace. "How nice to see you."

"I should have known you'd both be here together, Maud and Roland," Leonora observed. "Roland, you never let her come to these things on her own! Is it that you don't trust Maud?"

Beside her, Roland stiffened slightly. "That's hardly fair, Leonora. Maud and I see each other mostly at meetings, what with living and working in two different countries. Why, you've seen her more this autumn than I have, what with two months of your sabbatical spent at Lincoln." He didn't add "and imposing on poor Maud far past the point of her endurance" but he certainly could have. Maud had escaped to Amsterdam several times over Leonora's extended stay, finding no peace in her usually tranquil home thanks to Leonora's gregarious ways and love of drop-in guests.

Leonora laughed at his veiled annoyance. "Well, where else would a LaMotte scholar spend her time? Anyway, I've moved on now. And we should all celebrate our coming together here - I know the perfect Ethiopian restaurant. We're getting ready to take some cabs up that way and can easily make room for you both. . . ."

"No." Maud said bluntly. "No. Thank you, Leonora, but we've only just arrived and we need to check in at the front desk and then I've promised myself a little time to relax before sessions begin tomorrow. I'm not interested in anything more than that and I can't speak for Roland, but I doubt that he is, either."

Leonora paused at Maud's plain-speaking. "Well, if you insist," she finally, sulkily said. "We'll see you tomorrow, then. Come on, everyone! Let's head out!" At her words, the small scuffle of her retinue scurried off in Leonora's wake.

"Fair damsel slew the dragon," Roland said, observing a satisfied smile playing on Maud's lips and a rosy glow to her usually pale cheeks. It might be further sign of her thawing out from the deep cold of the Toronto weather, but it could also be a bit of personal pride at standing up to a friend who steamrolled over Maud far too often for her own comfort.

"Pish posh," Maud scoffed, "you don't mind, do you? That we didn't join them?"

Roland let his shoulders slump slightly with exhaustion. "Not at all. We were up at three this morning to make our flight and I'd just come in from Amsterdam three days before that. Anyway, Leonora's more your friend than mine, especially after how much of your time she took up with her sabbatical projects."

Maud sighed. "I know. She's a trial but LaMotte studies need every scholar we have, so I probably let her push me around more than I ought." With that, she gestured toward the small line shuffling towards the hotel's front desk. Maud let Roland gallantly manage both of their bags as she shuffled in her capacious bag to find their reservation that she'd printed out on the dot matrix office printer on the last day of term. It was time to settle in and avail themselves of the quiet and comfort of an anonymous hotel room for a last bit of rest ahead of a bracing set of conference sessions where Victorianists would meet and greet each other, and likely stab a few unsuspecting foes in the back.

***

It was full dark outside the window, bright lights from towers surrounding the stately hotel filtered through the semi-sheer curtain before Roland pulled the heavy drapery across the cold expanse of glass. Maud smiled as she came back from placing the empty room service tray in the hallway. The two of them had made quick work of the surprisingly tasty hotel offerings - hungry after the long day's travel.

"It's still fairly early," Maud observed as Roland tweaked the curtains to fully block out the city glare.

"Early if you're operating on Eastern Standard time," Roland countered. "I've barely adjusted to Greenwich time and now you want me to jump another several hours ahead? I think not."

Maud chuckled as she locked the door. She'd shed her hairband soon after they'd checked into the room so that her golden hair flowed loosely around over her shoulders. Maud's outfits for the meetings neatly hung in the closet next to Roland's less carefully curated jackets and pants. All of those clothes neatly disappeared behind the closet door once she slipped her low boots onto the floor inside, beside his.

The hotel room was a quiet, pale bower, dominated by a bed made up in crisp white sheets. Only a small pile of notebooks and books cluttered the desk - the inescapable detritus of academic travel. Tomorrow they would add to that name tags, thick booklets of the conference program and flyers from the publishers eagerly promoting books, theirs included. Roland still took a moment to tidy their materials into perfectly regimented stacks, knowing Maud rested easiest when all was in order. He clicked the desk light into darkness, leaving only one bedside lamp to illuminate the room.

"To bed with us," he whispered as she stepped up to face him.

"Ah," Maud exhaled. "“'We two will lie i’ the shadow of Occult, withheld, untrod, whose lamps are stirr’d continually with prayer sent up to God; and see our old prayers, granted, melt each like a little cloud.' Though, perhaps, Rossetti is more fitting for a warmer day?"

Roland wrinkled his nose and dropped a kiss upon Maud's perfect lips, pulling her hips flush against his. "I would not fear haply or be dumb, if you would lay your cheek against mine. Rossetti was too heavy-handed there, in any case."

Maud leaned back in Roland's easy embrace, quirking one eyebrow. "Ah, do I sense a new criticism?"

"Perhaps tomorrow," Roland murmured. "But let us leave scholarship for tomorrow and take the night for our own."

Maud's broad mouth stretched into a palpable smile beneath his lips, and then there was no more room for words between them.

**Author's Note:**

> Quotations and allusions come from Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'The Blessed Damozel'.


End file.
